Not Puppies and Kittens!

I have to say that I have the most interesting children living at the 'top' of our driveway.
Okay.
Mom and Dad are pretty darn cool too.

The kids got new pets.
And I am not talking about the 4H goats that they have. Nor am I talking about the chickens. Allie showed her chicken in open class at the fair because she couldn't show in regular 4H. Logan showed his goat in open class for the same reason.

I'm not talking about the cats that they have.

Nope.

Ever hear of Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches? No, I didn't either. But do you recall Allie, my neighbor's daughter who became fascinated with collecting insects for her Clover Bud 4H project?

This summer she discovered that fireflies ate slugs. So she collected them. And showed them to me...

When a little girl presents you with so much enthusiasm how can it not interest you? Allie went to a presentation to learn how to 'mount' her insects properly to show them at the Fair.
Can we just say that she is a budding Entomologist?

And Kudos for mom and dad for allowing her to explore this interest without getting grossed out.

Allie let me pet her Hissing Cockroaches.

I did not find them revolting, but actually very interesting. They eat dog and cat food and fruits. Any kind of fruits!
YES.
I did hold one and did not freak out. They were cool. They do hiss loudly.

I am amazed.

Then Carson pulled me into his room to introduce me to Sissilia. She is a Royal Python aka Ball Python. Known as a Ball Python because the will curl into a ball.

Here Carson takes Sissilia out and she curls around his wrist like an exotic bracelet. He told me it was OK to touch and pet her. And I do. Like the cockroaches ... I feel no revulsion at all. The snake is warm. Carson coaches me on how to pet her properly.

Not a great shot but here is a book image of the python and Sissilia.

We move upstairs were I can take turns petting and holding the Hissing Cockroaches and touching a python.

Let's not forget Logan's rabbits. They now live outside in a hutch. Their names are Medusa and... uh oh... OH! Skull! I didn't get their photos, but they are beautiful rabbits and soooo sooo soft!

Carson has a bath drawn for Sissilia.

It has to be just the right temperature. Baths are important as Carson tells me that Sissilia may have slithered through poo and a bath will keep her clean and healthy.

Whoa.

Stop the presses.

Basil.

Okay....she is .. just a puppy an ordinary doggy!

How on earth could there be a normal pet? Oh...gosh. Why not!

So while Carson and I were supervising Sissilia's bath, Basil peered over the tub edge.

Sissilia turned herself upside down as if to play dead to the sudden surprise.

I found a snake to have an incredible personality and learned so much from Carson regarding their behavior.

I hope I can go back next week and hold her.

I was able to witness a 'feeding'. I didn't record it. But watched with the whole family as we witnessed how a constrictor ate. 

It was not gross or disgusting. But a lesson in nature...and very educational.

Madagascar Hissing Beetles. Ball Python. Bunnies.

Goats.

Cats.

Basil [Charlie loves free time rough and tumble time with her...]

I am blessed. 

Best Morning ... Ever!

I received a text that asked if I could watch Logan for a couple of hours while mom took a nap. 

Let me explain something. Mom works from her home office teaching English to Chinese students via the internet. She works up lesson plans and works with so many students

She had an overnight presentation [I'm sure that I am not getting the details right] and was wondering if I could spend a bit of time with Logan while she took a power nap to compensate.

I jumped at the chance and texted back "YES!"

Logan is 5 and full of surprises. I had some pumpkin projects to do and said that we could paint pumpkins and decorate them.

I went downstairs and retrieved the wooden blocks I'd saved from the house remodel. I'd sanded and painted them just for the purpose of having little people come to the house and building with them. I've got very fond memories of my children playing with blocks from my mother's house that she and dad built....and memories of playing with a box of odd wooden pieces that my Grandparents put together from the building of their house.

I dug out some acrylic paints and a few tiny pumpkins.

As a second thought, I gathered all of my acquired toys in a basket and brought them downstairs too. Many of the toys were those that Logan had given me over the past two years to 'play' with and take home when I'd watched him at his house.

I was ready when I got the text: "We are on our way."

Pumpkin painting is serious stuff when your pumpkin needs to be black.

While the black pumpkin dried enough to tip over and get painted on the bottom, Logan decided to use some red paint and then red glitter glue to decorate the second pumpkin.

While the projects did some more drying we decided to explore the blocks and toys.

And I learned how to build a proper castle.

And we filled it with Dinosaurs, donkeys, skunks, My Little Ponies and trolls. However the Soldiers were the favorites.

Charlie inspects the toy basket and then sits on the couch to watch...

And a huge battle ensued.

Toys got waylaid all over the living room floor. The castle seemed to get blown up from the sound effects...

And we went back to the kitchen to check on the pumpkins while the toys recovered...

This is a proper 'scarey' pumpkin with red diamond eyes, nose and mouth.

After Logan returned home and I came back from walking with him, my husband quipped:

It is a good thing you have someone your OWN age to play with.

I grinned. I had such a good morning with Logan! Rich enjoyed watching and talking with Logan.

See?

Best

morning

Ever!

I hope we get to play again. 

Nothing is Impossible!

It was just one of those days.

The neighbor kids were off from school and the temperatures were insanely warm for February.

Our texts back and forth from the house on the ridge to the one in the hollow were all about "Let's go for a Hike!" Morris was welcome to come along.  We packed snacks and water.

And off we went. Morris walked on a leash until we got down the road just a bit.

Who knew a corn field could be so interesting?
One can whip corn stalks like ninja swords and throw corn cobs high into the sky. There was plenty of mud to explore and we had just begun the journey.

To the right is the real driveway and to the left of the kid picnic table is where the neighbor who lives on the ridge has been driving to avoid ice/snow/mud.
With the quick melt and thaw, I was pretty sure that the days of getting back to his place was going to get very interesting.

We made it to the old ridge road which is used in the winter by snowmobiles and during the rest of the year by those folks who drive a 4 wheeler or take a 4 wheel drive truck to the 'camp ground' on the bottom.

The snow was still present on the north hillsides but was gone on all of the south facing hillsides.

Morris kept tabs on the kids. Lauren, my night time hiking pal and I enjoyed the view and the shouts from the kids each time they discovered something interesting.

By this time the kids had shed their sweatshirts. How odd to see kids walking on ice and snow with short sleeves! But it was warm, the sun was strong, and there was no wind.
Just a few short weeks ago Lauren and the Kenosha gang and I had taken a chilly night hike right through here.

No ice formations at the culvert this warm day. Just rushing water.

And then we turned the corner through the dead golden rod plants and...

there was the creek...

And the fun ensued. One might have thought the kids were having summer fun at the beach on February 17th?

Everyone enjoyed it.

As we got towards the shadier part of the creek, and the slight air movement that came down from the snowy northern hillsides, the air got colder.

The sweatshirts went back on and the kids we headed towards the trail that went back towards my house.

Since the flood had washed out the ridge road, we now had to climb a steep bank and follow a deer trail to get back up on the ridge road.
I'd brought a rope to help out.

The hillside was covered in slick ice.

We nicknamed it "The Elevator".

Allie looked at it and proclaimed it to be Impossible!

Carson looked at it and muttered, "Nothing is Impossible!"
He grabbed the rope and climbed up the slick hillside.

And up he scampered.

Indeed.
Nothing is Impossible, if you set your mind to it.

Some things you cannot wrap

Yesterday we had a beautiful snow fall. However it was not very nice for anyone that was travelling.
Our brother and sister in law took 4 hrs for a two hour trip. They arrived safely at my mom in laws but are heading back before the ice storm comes tomorrow.

In the photo above are my cross country ski tracks. I went during the heaviest part of the snowfall and 'broke' a trail across the 60 acres of cropland on top of the ridge.

The views during the snow storm was amazing. It seemed as though the sky and the ground disappeared into each other.
It was mesmerizing.

Even when I went through a section of woods to short cut, the views were amazing.
I hate driving in this stuff.
I love, love, love walking, snowshoeing, and cross country skiing in it though.

Your world is wrapped in a blanket of snow fallen silence.

I took my little pink pocket camera and dared to bring it out a few times to try and capture the essence of the silence. It was beautiful and overwhelming at the same time.

After dark I met up with my neighbor for cross country skiing.
We skied and made our way in the dark with my little headlamp shining the way with a red glow.
We laughed when we hit drifts that tripped us up.
No one was there to see us fall over in the snow.
At one point we both 'crashed' and just lay back and laughed into the night sky.

Eventually we made it around the huge field and ended back up the mailboxes where we had met.
We marveled in the night and wished we could have seen stars. We felt a light mist coming down on our faces.

We talked, we chatted, we laughed. We didn't solve the world's problems but we did enjoy each other's company.

And this simple thing was a gift that cannot be wrapped.
Friendship.
Merry Christmas to me I thought as I walked back down the driveway towards our house parting company with my neighbor.

What a magical night.

Such a fun day!

It started with a snow storm. And how nice that it was on a day that I didn't have to drive to work!

I called my 'upstairs' neighbor around noon to see if she and the kids were going to be around after lunch.
I sort of...well.
I knew.
That sledding would be the activity of the afternoon.

If you have a hill and a willing heart. You go sledding.

The photo above is of me and our neighbor's oldest son going down their 'lower driveway' hillside.
We had such a blast. I can't think of a better way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
The whole family joined in and we just had so much fun.

After sledding the kids had some hot chocolate and then I invited Allie and Carson to do chores with me.

Their dad was plowing the driveway. Rich was also plowing.

So we had the 'men folk' plowing with a skid steer and tractor... while the kids and I went and did the chores.

Carson and Allie were so helpful. 

This was a sneak shot of Allie

It was so fun to have them help with the chores. Of course it wasn't their own chores that they had to do at home.
That really makes a huge difference.
Ask any kid.
Doing chores somewhere else is so much more fun!

Really.
Are my chores that much more fun than regular household chores?

I suppose I could have gone skiing, hiking, or just decided to be lazy...
but hey...
this was so much more fun.